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'Let a child come and touch a plane': Teknofest makes dreams come true

Teknofest, Türkiye's prominent technology and aerospace event, provided 100,000 children the chance to experience helicopter flights, broadening their horizons and nurturing a passion for aviation.

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Türkiye's Teknofest leads children and young to meet with various projects, allowing them to experience helicopter flights in Izmir. / Photo: AA

A project done as part of Teknofest, Türkiye's premier technology and aerospace event, has helped a total of 100,000 children experience flying.

“On the 100th anniversary of our Republic, we aimed to have 100,000 children experience the 'Let a Child Come and Touch a Plane' programme. As of today, we reached this target in Izmir,” Muhammet Saymaz, Teknofest's secretary-general, told Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the five-day event, which wrapped up in the Turkish Aegean province of Izmir on Sunday.

Under the project, students from neighbouring provinces experienced helicopter flights for the first time.

The project was conducted in memory of Ozdemir Bayraktar, the founder of one of Türkiye’s leading defence firms, Baykar.

Noting the importance of children witnessing the projects developed by Türkiye during the event, Saymaz said: “It is very important to have them witness and expand their horizons.”

The project began last year in Türkiye’s Black Sea province of Samsun and continued in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir.

As part of the project, 40,000 children were brought to Istanbul and 30,000 others to Ankara.

"I believe young people hold the power to shape the future,” the Director of T3 Startup Center Irem Bayraktar told TRT World at Teknofest pic.twitter.com/C09WcmjyL1
— TRT World (@trtworld) October 1, 2023

More and more joining the festival

On Sunday, Selcuk Bayraktar, chairman of festival organiser the Turkish Technology Team (T3) Foundation, said some 2 million young people had competed with their projects at nine Teknofest events since it was held for the first time in 2018.

Bayraktar added that more than 9 million visitors also took part in the event so far.

Co-organised every year since 2018 by the T3 Foundation and the Industry and Technology Ministry, the banner festival is held in cooperation with other ministries and dozens of other public institutions, private firms, and universities.

The event was previously held in various Turkish cities in even years and in the Istanbul metropolis in odd years.

To mark the centenary of the Republic of Türkiye, this year the event was held at three different sites in Türkiye's largest cities, first at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport in May, welcoming a world record 2.2 million visitors, and next in the capital Ankara, attracting nearly 1 million people. Its last stop was the Aegean province of Izmir.